Trip mechanism for oil burners



May 8, 1928. 1,668,605

c. A. REIF TRIP MECHANISM FOR OIL BURNERS Filed Sept. 24 1926 CHAR s ,4. W's/r Patented May 8, 1928.

TRIP EEECHANISM E03? 011 BURNERS.

Application filed September 2%, 1926. Serial No. 137,566.

My invention relates to improvements in trip mechanisms for oil burners of the type in which electrical energy is used'to actuate the oil vaporizing mechanism and the object of the invention is to provide a means for cutting oil the electrical power should the burner flame become extinguished and the unburned oil flow back from the fire pot through the overflow means always provided in burners of this type.

A further object of the invention is to utilize the oil receiving drip cup as the mechanism actuating means. A still further object of the invention is to devise a mechanism in which springs of any type are entirely eliminated and thus obviate any of the hazards of spring actuated mechanisms which very frequently fail to act through spring breakage or clogging.

Another object of the invention is to so construct my trip mechanism that it is not possible to reset it to close the electrical switch without properly positioning the drip cup in place and so prevent any possibility of the burner being made to function without'such trip mechanism being properly set.

My invention consists of a trip mechanism constructed and arranged all as hereinafter more particularly described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of my device showing it mounted within a fragmentary portion of the blower fan pedestal, the mechanism being in the set position and the electrical circuit closed, and,

Fig. 2 is a similar view to Figure 1, showing the mechanism after it has automatically tripped and opened the electrical circuit.

Like characters of reference indicate the corresponding parts in the difierent views.

1 is the hollow pedestal upon which the blower fan and electric motor are mounted, my mechanism being adapted to be positioned within such pedestal and is constructed of the following parts:

2 is a depending bracket secured at its upper end to the inner face 3 of the pedestal 1 by means of the bolts 4, such member 2 beingbifurcated at its lower end and adapted to receive the various levers which are pivotally mounted within such bifurcation. 4 is a normal horizontally extending lever pivoted within the lower end of the bifurcated bracket 2 upon the transverse pin 5, one end of such lever being furnished with a pair of upwardly extending jaws 6, and its other and furnished with an upwardly extending portion 7. 8 is a second lever pivotally mounted within the bracket 2 upon the pin 9 and normally lying in parallel relation to the lever 1, one end thereof being supported upon the upwardly extending member 7 of such lever. The lever & is provided intermediately of its length with a downwardly extending lug 10 which is adapted to support a third lever 11, being pivotally mounted intermediately of its length upon its lower end, and 12 is an upwardly extending pin freely passing through the end portion of the lever & and having its upper end extending between the jaws 6 and its lower end pivotally connected to the adjacent end of the lever 11.

lntermediately of the distance between the other end of the lever 11 and the lug 10 a link 13 is furnished, having its lower end pivotally connected to the lever 11 and its upper end pivotally connected to the adjacent end. of the lever 8. The lever 8 is provided with an upwardly extending lug 14 which normally lies in parallel relation to the bracket 2 and is pivotally connected at its upper end to a. normally extending plunger arm 15 which extends freely through a passage 15 in the bracket 2, projecting M through the other side thereof and furnished with an indentation 16 to receive the trip lever mechanism which I shall now describe.

The upper end of the depending bracket 2 is also bifurcated and adapted to receive the trip arm 17 one end of which is pivotally mounted therein upon a transverse pin 18. 19 is a latch pivotally mounted upon the end of the trip arm 17 and having a hook 20 upon its lower end adapted to engage the indentation 16 of the arm 15 when my mechanism is in the set position. Upon the other end of the arm 17 a weight 21 is furnished to cause such arm to swing downwardly when the arm 15 disengages from the latch 19 as shall be hereinafter described.

Positioned upon the arm 17 I provide a mercurial electrical switch of the usual type consisting of a sealed glass tube 22 which is L secured to the arm by any suitable means such as the band 23, a globule of mercury being contained therein. 25 and 26 are the electrical wiring terminals which project into the tube 22 and are adapted to be electrically connected by the globule of mercury when the tube is in the substantially hori:

inc

I the oil which is being fed thereto will, of,

zontal position illustrated in Figure 1. 27

and 28 are the usual electrical wires extcnding from the terminals.

29 is the oil overflow conduit leading from the burner combustion chamber, not shown, terminating within the pedestahl and adapted to drip the oil into the oil drip receiving cup 30. This cup is of the usual circular formation and provided with an invert-ed U-shaped handle 31, such handle being positioned between the pair of jaws 6 on the lever 4 and restingupbn the upper end of the pin 12 which freely pro1eots therethrough. 32 is a handleprovided upon the outer end of the lever 1 for convenience in handling when the mechanism is being reset.

The operation of my device is as follows: lVhen my burner is functioning my trip mechanism is set, being in the position illustrated in Figure 1, that is, with the latch 19 engaging the end of the plunger arm 15, all the levers of the mechanism being substantially horizontally disposed, the trip arm 17 being inclined upwardly to a slight degree so that the globule of mercury in the tube 22 makes an electrical contact between the terminals 25 and 26, and thus permits the electrical current to be supplied to the blower fan motor.

Should the flame in the fire pot become extinguished through. any unforeseen reason course, commence to flood within the com- .bustion chamber and run back through the overflow conduit 29 and enter the drip cup 30. WVhen a. predetermined quantity of oil has entered the drip cup 30 it will, of course, become increased in weight and depress the pin 12 and the adjacent end of the lever 11. As the lever 11 is piyotally mounted upon the lower end of the lug 10 which depends from the lever 4, the major portion of such lever will swing downwardly to a slight de gree about the pin 5, the portion 7 upon its short end moving upwardly and swinging the lever 8 in a clockwise direction with the consequent clockwise movement of the lug 14 thereon, which will thus actuate the plunger arm 15 in the direction indicated by the arrow in Figure 1 and take its notched end 16 out of engagement with the latch 19. As soon as such disengagement occurs the arm 17 will, of course, swing downwardly in a clockwise direction under the influence of the weight 21 and the mercury globule in the tube 22 will run to the lower end and break the contact between the electrical terminals 25 and 26, thus stopping the operation of the burner. i

This particular trip mechanism is adapted to be used in conjunction with my burner in which an electrically operated oil control valve is used so that as soon as the electrical circuit is broken through the downward movement of the trip arm 17 the electrical motor actuating the blower fan will cease functioning and the electrically actuated oil control valve close, thus cutting off both supplies of oil and air to the combustion chamber.

\Vhen it is desired to reset the trip mechanism the oil collected in the oil drip pct 30 is removed therefrom and the arm 17 swung upwardly into the position illustrated in Figure 1. The lever 4; is then swung upwardly by means of the handle 32 with the resultant inward movement of the plunger arm 15, the indentation 16 inits end engaging the latch 19, the mercury globule forming a connection between the terminals 25 and 26 and the entire mechanism being restored to the functioning position as illustrated in Figure 1.

Upon further reference to the drawings it will be observed that I have provided a weight 33 upon the freeend 3 1 of the lever 11. The object of weighting the end of this lever is to provide an additional safeguard against any possibility of the mechanism being reset to close'the switch without the oil drip cup 30 being hung upon the pin 12. If an endeavor should be made to reset the mechanism without hanging the drip cup upon the pin 12, the lever 4 will be first swung upwardly as before described, any upward movement beyond a substantially horizontal position being prevented by the stop 35 in the bracket 2 which is provided for this purpose. The arm 11 which is supported by the lever 4 will not swing into a substantially horizontal position therewith but will swing in an anti-clockwise direction under the influence of the weight 33 which is not counter-balanced by the weight of the oil drip cup upon its other end. It will therefore be readily appreciated that the anti-clockwise movement of the lever 11 will retain'the lever 8 in an inclined disengaged position with-the plunger arm 15 out of engagement with the latch 19, thus preventing the mechanism from being set. When the drip cup is properly hung upon the pin 12 it will counter-balance the weight 33, preventing the anti-clockwise movement of'the lever 11, and thus permit the plunger arm 15 to engage the latch 19 when the lever 4 is swung to a substantially horizontal position. i

From the foregoing description it will be readily perceived that I have constructed an extremely simple form of trip mechanism wherein any undue amount of unburned oil collecting within the combustion chamber will enter the drip pot and cause the trip mechanism to actuate, cutting off the entire functioning of the burner and thus positively prevent any possibility of a wastage of oil or fire which might be caused through its overflow. Furthermore I have constructed fluid receiving receptacle supported veis, a trip prising in combination with a tube con- V structed of insulated material and having a globule of mercury therein adapted to constitute an electrical connection between two terminal points in the tube when said tube is held at a predetermined inclination, of a swingable arm upon which the tube is mounted, a bracket member adapted to support said swingable arm, a swingable lever pivotally mounted upon the bracket member, '21 second swingable lever pivotally mounted upon the first swingable lever, a by the second swingable lever, a third swingable lever pivotally mounted upon the bracket member and adapted to slidably engage the first swingable lever, a link connectin the second and third mentioned swingab e lemechanism mounted upon the third mentioned lever andadapted to engage the swingable arm for retaining it in a predetermined inclination, means for introducing fluid into the fluid receiving receptacle and means whereby the introduction of such fluid increases the weight of the ed of insulated material and having fluid receiving receptacle to swing the swing-- able levers downwardly to disengage the trip mechanism from the swingable arm to permit a change of inclination thereof with the resultant movement of the mercur globule away from the terminal points to reak the electrical circuit. v

2. In an electrical switch mechanism,comprising in combination with a tube constructa globule of mercury therein adapted to constitute an electrical connection between two terminal points in the tube when said tube is heldat a predetermined inclination, of a swingable arm upon which the tube is mounted, bracket member adapted to support said swingable arm, a plunger arm supported by the bracket member and adapted to engage the swingable arm for retaining it at the predetermined inclination, a swingable lever supported by the bracket member, connecting means extending between the lever and the plunger arm, a fluid receiving receptacle supported by the swingable lever, and means whereby an increa'se in weight of the fluid receiving receptacle through the entrance of fluid ther'einto causes a downward movement of the swingable lever with a resultant move-.

ment of the plunger arm through the medium of the connecting means whereby the plunger arm disengages from the swin able arm to permit a change of inclination t ereof with the resultant movement of the mercury globule away from the terminal points to break the electrical bircuit.

3. In an electrical switch mechanism, comprising in gombination with a tube constructed of insulated material and having a globule of mercury therein adapted to constitute an electrical connection between two terminal points in the tube when said tube is held at a predetermined inclination, of a swingable arm upon which the tube is mounted, a bracket member adapted to support said swingable arm, a swingable lever supported by the bracket member, a trip mechanism extending between the swin able lever and the swingable arm for retalning the swingable arm in the predetermined inclination when the mechanism is set and the switch closed, a fluid receiving receptacle supported upon one end of the swingable lever, a weight secured upon the other end of the swingable lever, means whereby an increase in weight of the fluid receiving receptacle through the entrance of fluid thereinto causes a downward movement of the end of the swingable lever supporting the receptacle, to cause the disengagement of the trip mechanism from the swingable arm to permit a changed inclination thereof with the resultant movement of the mercury globule away from the terminal points to break the electrical circuit, means whereby the man ual removal of the fluid receiving receptacle CHARLES AUGUSTUS REIF. 

